Push on to reduce euthanasia at animal shelter

The 70 percent euthanasia rate at the Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter is not as high as first thought. It is not much out of line with the government-run shelters around the country.

STAFF PHOTO BY DONALD STOUT

While attention is still focused on the East Bank Animal Shelter, where 13 dogs were accidentally killed in March after being improperly doused with a flea dip, animal welfare advocates are pushing officials to lower the parish's 70 percent euthanasia rate.

"Seventy percent is beyond the pale," said Pamela Perez, president of the St. Francis Animal Sanctuary in Tylertown, Miss., and a member of a task force organized this year to recommend changes at Jefferson's two animal shelters.

Statistics from 2006 show Orleans and St. Charles parishes both euthanize a lower percentage of animals -- 53 percent in Orleans and 50 percent in St. Charles -- while St. Tammany Parish kills about 80 percent of the animals in its parishwide shelter.

Jefferson fares better compared to national figures. In 2005, the latest year for which figures are available, animal shelters took in between 8 to 12 million companion animals and euthanized about five to nine million, or 60 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Jefferson Parish took in 13,837 animals at its two shelters and put down 9,609, for a rate of 69 percent, in 2006.

If Perez and others have their way and change arrives in Jefferson, outrage at the March 23 deaths at the shelter will be at least partly responsible.

The incident, in which 13 dogs were killed after a worker sprayed the animals, their cages and bowls with improperly diluted insecticide, became public last month.

The worker who sprayed the insecticide quit after the incident. Another worker was fired, a third was reprimanded and the shelter's acting director was replaced by a manager of the Human Resources Department.

The deaths brought to light other complaints about the shelter, including the 70 percent euthanasia rate.

Perez of the St. Francis Animal Sanctuary, said the parish should work to become a "no-kill" agency. The St. Francis facility is a 50-acre no-kill sanctuary where Jefferson shelter animals were taken after Hurricane Katrina.

"A no-kill facility is one where all pets will have the chance to go into caring or loving homes," she said. "I just feel very positive that they're going to see the light, do the right thing."

To become no-kill, the Jefferson would need more money, more resources and a full volunteer force willing to foster animals when there isn't space at the shelter, Perez said.

"Their problem is overcrowding," she said. "There needs to be another place for the animals when they come in to go."

Bert Smith, who directed Jefferson's two animal shelters before becoming an administrative assistant to parish President Aaron Broussard last year, said that unlike no-kill shelters, the parish must accept every animal brought to its facilities. "Some animal shelters don't accept animals if they don't have room," he said.

On a busy day, 100 animals pour into the parish's two shelters, he said. Close to half have been given up by owners, nearly half are strays and a smaller percentage are cruelty and bite cases.

Some animal advocates say that instead of being held for possible adoption, animals that come into the Jefferson shelter are written off as unadoptable too quickly, for easily treatable health conditions.

That explains the 70 percent euthanasia rate, they contend.

"It's not fair to take one aspect and say that is the reason why," Smith said, adding that the kennel master and veterinarian decide which animals are adoptable based on many factors, including health, shelter space and behavior. "It's much more than just one simple thing."

Executive director of the Humane Society of Louisiana, Jeff Dorson, said that some of the best shelters in the state are ones in which government agencies work hand-in-hand with humane societies.

That's the case in St. Charles Parish, where the Humane Society operates out of a rent-free room in the shelter.

St. Charles, which also spends more per capita on animal shelters than Orleans and Jefferson, has sponsored progressive animal control legislation, animal advocates say.

The parish has strengthened the law to hamper backyard breeding by requiring a breeder's license for female animals that are not spayed, said St. Charles Animal Control Supervisor, Lee Ann Matherne.

Maloney said she doesn't know why Orleans' rate is lower than Jefferson's, but said the Louisiana SPCA focuses on maximizing the chance animals will be adopted.

To that end, the shelter is open seven days a week for adoptions, gave 600 dogs last year to shelters in other states in need of adoptable animals and volunteers take animals all over the area for off-site adoptions.

"We work very hard to find alternatives," she said. "This is the most challenging job I've ever had in my whole life .¤.¤.You search for solutions like 'how can we decrease euthanasia, how can we increase adoptions.' You're always trying to give animals every chance possible."

Smith said Jefferson does foster out animals, such as neo-natal kittens, adopts to other states and participates in adopting out animals off-site and on petfinder.com. Jefferson's shelters are closed on Sundays.

Smith conceded that criticism Jefferson could be putting more animals up for adoption is fair.

"I think that's what the animal shelter is trying to do," he said, adding that the shelter is combatting the two main reasons animals are listed as unadoptable: health and temperament.

For example, volunteers walk animals to socialize them, and about two months ago the shelter began vaccinating every animal, rather than just adoptable animals. That helps keep the kennel healthier, Smith said.

"We're putting more resources into treating animals," he said.

The St. Tammany Parish animal shelter, which had a euthanasia rate of about 80 percent in 2006, is also putting more resources into adopting out animals.

Last year, they started "Pet Connect," a television show on the St. Tammany government access channel that advertises animals and includes tips for keeping pets healthy, said Suzanne Parsons Stymiest, St. Tammany Parish spokeswoman.

"We've also been really trying to get our adoptions up," she said. "It's been highly successful. We're really trying to encourage people to come to any one of the shelters first when they need a pet."

The parish shelter accepts animals from all over the parish. There is also a shelter run by the city of Slidell and one run by the St. Tammany Humane Society. They are not included in the parishwide figures.

Some animal welfare workers, however, caution that euthanasia rates alone are not the way to rank a shelter. "You can't tell whether they're doing a good job simply based on numbers," said Carolyn Machowski, manager of the animal services program for the Humane Society of the United States. "There are so many other factors."

Advocates say strong spay/neuter programs are imperative to cut down on the number of shelter-bound animals.

Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People newspaper, said areas that started spay and neuter programs decades ago -- the first nationwide was in Neptune, N.J. in 1957 -- have lower euthanasia rates than populations that got a later start.

And not surprisingly, "The last place this caught on was the South," he said.

Smith said he put an emphasis years ago on trying to convince residents that it's humane to fix their pets.

"The shelter's been trying to educate the public for a long time, trying to get the message out that spaying and neutering was the way to go rather than have animals pouring into the shelter," Smith said.

But even as the South is now pushing some of the same programs as the Northeast and West Coast, where pet overpopulation is not as big a problem, there are still more animals than homes for them. And that means euthanasia.

Another change animal welfare activists are pushing is the way Jefferson kills its animals.

The two methods approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Humane Society of the United States are carbon monoxide and injection by sodium pentobarbital. Jefferson mainly uses carbon monoxide gas.

"Major humane associations consider sodium pentobarbital the gold standard," said Dr. Lila Miller, vice president of veterinary outreach and veterinary advisor to the ASPCA. "We would like shelters to move away from carbon monoxide."

Jefferson is early in that process, Smith said, spurred by "public perception" about carbon monoxide chambers. He said the shelter will make the transition once enough employees have been certified.

Another national agency, The American Humane Association, only considers euthanasia by injection acceptable, and 13 states have gone so far as to ban carbon monoxide, said Elaine Wood, the agency's shelter services manager.

"Basically it comes down to we don't feel like there should be a double standard between owned pets and those that are in animal shelters," she said.

Miller said both methods are painless ways to die if administered correctly. However, not all animals should be euthanized by carbon monoxide: young or old animals and those with respiratory problems might not have enough lung capacity for the chamber, and there is a potential for misuse by shelters where too many animals might be loaded into one chamber.

She said the chamber is stressful for animals because no humans are present and different animals are often in the same chamber.

East Baton Rouge Parish Animal Control Center, which once used mainly the carbon monoxide method, completed the switch to injection several weeks ago, said Hilton Cole, the shelter's director.

Despite having made the switch, he agreed with Smith that sodium pentobarbital can be difficult for employees who must hold the animal while its life is slipping away.

"That's the worst part of it all," Cole said. "It's very hard on the employees .¤.¤. It's a lot easier for my employees to push a button and walk away."

While the trend nationally is moving away from gas chambers, Louisiana, especially in rural areas, has fewer shelters using injections, said Kate Pullen, senior director of strategic development for the ASPCA.

Non-profit shelters and ones in urban areas use injection more than do municipal and rural shelters, which tend toward carbon monoxide, Pullen said.

"The bulk of the shelters in Louisiana haven't switched over to euthanasia by injection," said Pullen, who is on the Jefferson task force charged in January with studying the shelter.

As a suggestion from the task force, the Parish Council recently agreed to pay for a U.S. Humane Society management and practices audit of the shelter. That decision was made before council members learned that 13 dogs were poisoned.

Jennifer Wright, who is on the task force, said Jefferson can't wait the months it will take for the audit to address the euthanasia rate.

"I think the shelter can definitely improve from where they were," she said, adding that the entire community needs to take some responsibility and emphasize responsible pet ownership. "It's not just the shelter. We certainly do need a lot of people involved."

Dorson, of the Humane Society of Louisiana, said he has traveled the state overseeing animal shelters for nearly the past 20 years. From animals crammed six to a cage to a truck backed up to a shelter to provide the carbon monoxide for euthanasia, Dorson said he has seen "virtually everything."

And while Jefferson's shelters didn't stand out for abuses as some rural shelters did, they weren't a cause for celebration, either.

"They always seem stuck in neutral. No progressive policy to encourage much of anything except the status quo," he said, adding community members have indicated a desire for better.

"Jefferson is in a position to reinvent itself and become a model," he said.

Mary Sparacello can be reached at msparacello@timespicayune.com or (504) 467-1726.